Spring snowstorms expected to miss Washington County

Some wet snow seen on South Mountain

April 23, 2012|From staff reports

By Joe Crocetta/Staff Photographer

WASHINGTON COUNTY — Unseasonable snowstorms that were expected to hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and far Western Maryland should steer clear of Washington County, a National Weather Service meteorologist said Monday.

Hagerstown could see less than a quarter-inch of additional rain by Tuesday morning, then the rain should start subsiding, said Heather Sheffield, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sterling, Va.

Some snow flurries might mix with the rain in the Hagerstown area, but little or no accumulation is expected, according to the weather service.

At 6 p.m. Monday, Hagerstown weather observer Greg Keefer’s website reported that 0.52 inch of rain had fallen Monday, and a total of 2.6 inches fell since the rain started Sunday.

The rain that hit Washington County on Sunday and Monday morning didn’t cause any road closures or serious traffic problems, a Washington County Emergency Services dispatcher said Monday afternoon.

A lot of minor accidents were reported Monday, but no one was seriously injured, another dispatcher said.

People reported spotting flurries at various spots in the county early Monday but no significant snowfalls were reported, Sheffield said. A wet snow, however, was on the ground on South Mountain at the Washington/Frederick county line Monday morning. Emergency services dispatchers in Morgan County, W.Va., and in Franklin and Fulton counties in Pennsylvania reported light snow at higher elevations.

Sheffield said most of the snow accumulations in Western Maryland were west of Frostburg.

Garrett County was under a winter storm warning until 2 a.m. Tuesday, the weather service reported. The forecast for Oakland, Md., called for 2 to 4 inches of snow Monday afternoon and less than an inch of snow Monday night.

State police in McHenry, Md., said at midmorning Monday that 6 to 8 inches of snow had fallen in parts of Garrett County, but the wintry weather wasn’t causing significant traffic problems.

High temperatures at this time of year typically reach the high 60s or low 70s, well above Monday’s high of 43.3 degrees, which was recorded at 1:13 p.m., Sheffield said.

“We’re not expecting freezing,” she said. “We’re below normal with the temperatures. We have seen snow this late, but it’s rare.”

Sheffield said the high temperature will rise into the mid-50s Tuesday and get closer to normal Wednesday, when highs will reach the mid-60s.